Film Review: Slither

The nearly suspenseless ode to Troma films, Slither, is a slimy combination of humor and gore. When a meteor lands near the traditional backdrop for most horror movies, a small, out-of-the-way town, the normality of town people’s daily lives are not disturbed in the slightest. This is because no one but the people watching Slither actually see meteor hit.

The people of the town, including the sheriff, played effortlessly by Nathon Fillion and a school teacher played by Elizabeth Banks, go about their daily routines none-the-wiser that death now looms over their town and something nefarious is germinating in the woods bordering their community. It’s only when a prominent member of their community and the husband of Bank’s character, played very effectively by Michael Rooker, is injected with a parasitic needle from the meteorite’s inhabitant, that the real horror in Slither begins.

I won’t list off all of the key occurrences in this film but in between the resultant deaths, there are a plethora of jokes and profanity to almost make a sailor cringe. Thanks to television stations like FX and Comedy Central though, most of the language is commonplace now. The prose in the film aside, there is one notable sequence in Slither that if handled more diligently, could have been as horrible, suspenseful and memorable as the trailer sequence in the remake of The Hills Have Eyes. It involves a house with two children and a “teenage girl” in a bathtub, played by 24-year-old Tania Saulnier. There’s a.) the way Director Jack Gunn presented this scene and b.) the way a director of Takashi Miike’s caliber would have dealt with the scene. If you’ve seen Ichi the Killer, Audition or Visitor Q, you already know whose version of this sequence would have been more gruesome and uncomfortable to watch.

That aside, Slither is an enjoyable movie. You get what you pay for, a Troma flick for a new generation. If you’re part of the “old” generation, you might have noticed the grandfather of all Troma films, The Toxic Avenger, playing on the television screen in the house of the worm slugs’ mother, played by Brenda James, as Rooker paid her an unhealthy night time visit. For most viewers, this small Troma tribute within the film went unnoticed. Don’t walk into a film of this kind with any misconceptions. Slither isn’t a slasher flick though someone does get notably slashed. Slither is more gooey and slimy than bloody. Yes there is blood but there is twice as much green vomit.

Rating: 7/10

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About the author

Rollo Tomasi

A Political Science and MBA grad who started FilmBook during an eCommerce B-School course in 2008. Cinema and TV addict. Former writer at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and Alternative Film Guide. In addition to writing for FilmBook, he also edits the copy published on the website, manages its writing staff, manages the back-end operations, site finances, its social network accounts, and works with publicists, actors, and companies on press coverage and promotions. He has also created ProMovieBlogger.com and Trending Awards.com.